Brief followup on microsoft’s Magnetic USB-C Port

Since posting my brief piece yesterday on Microsoft’s new magnetic USB-C connector on its impending Surface Laptop Ultra, I’ve gotten some feedback from readers, via email and on social media, who question my argument and the newness of the invention. The thrust of their counterpoint says there exists a whole cottage industry on Amazon of inexpensive magnetic adapters one can use with the existing“regular” USB-C ports on their computer(s).

My retort? An aftermarket dongle pales in comparison to, say, Microsoft’s solution that’s permanently attached to the laptop and is reversible to boot. I’ll concede the concept rings true, but these two products are not at all the same thing. From an accessibility perspective, the dongles reintroduce the problem Microsoft’s connector inherently solves: namely, the hand-eye rigamarole that can make plugging in cables difficult for people with certain disabilities. A user still needs to connect everything when setting up the adapter, and making it even more finicky and inaccessible in terms of cognition, the person must ensure the pieces fit correctly—and they’re small! Taken together, the user experience is worlds different than, again, having the magnetic port permanently affixed to the computer itself.

So, no, these cheap adapters from companies I’ve never heard of are hardly in the same league as what Microsoft’s engineered. If Microsoft is the NFL, these adapters are Pop Warner. Perhaps both are spiritually similar, but in everyday use, I’d bet a whole lot of money—and I’m not even a betting man—these adapters are worse in every conceivable way.

I’m sure these have a place in someone’s toolkit, but they are not anything remotely close to Microsoft’s solution.